What's an Enigma?
by marisa lee -peanuts
Summary: ANOTHER REPOST. Linus was never in favor of Sally's silly nickname for him-but was it only a facade to cover up his true feelings for the girl? One-shot.


**Another REPOST. Sorry guys.**

* * *

"That's my Sweet Baboo!"

Linus's cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink as the little blonde girl screeched his embarrassing nickname across the playground.

"Look at my Sweet Baboo—isn't he the cutest thing?"

Sally sighed and batted her eyelashes in his direction. He rolled his eyes. Everyone watching the scene laughed and pointed at him, the one Sally had been swooning over since day one. He pulled his light blue blanket over his head so he couldn't see their laughing faces anymore.

"Good grief," he muttered into the blanket. Sally's older brother, Charlie Brown, was sitting next to him. He looked down into his lap.

"Sorry, Linus," Charlie Brown apologized for his sister's obsessive behavior for what felt like the hundredth time.

Linus didn't respond. He just stuck his wet thumb in his mouth and stayed hidden under the blanket.

Later that day, Linus rushed into his house, still holding the blanket over his head, shielding himself from the laughter that still rang in his ears and echoed in his head. He hated when people laughed at him because of Sally. He darted past the television set and the sofa in the living room, making a beeline for the stairs. He was almost to the top of them when—out of nowhere, as usual—his older sister, Lucy, stood in front of him, blocking his path.

"AAARGHH!" he shouted as he ran headlong into her, sending them both toppled backwards at the top of the staircase. They each scrambled to their feet, and Linus struggled to get to his room, but Lucy had him by the blanket.

"What do you want, Lucy?" he cried, desperately tugging on the other end of his security blanket.

"Oh, nothing," she hummed, keeping a firm grip on the blanket with a smug grin on her face. "Ex-CEPT…" She squinted evilly at him and he gulped. "I saw you with Sally Brown earlier."

Linus cried out in surprise. "No you didn't! I didn't even go near her today, I swear it!"

Lucy laughed. "Whatever you say, little brother!" she smirked, and let go of the blanket, sending Linus hurdled backwards down the hallway towards his bedroom.

"I DON'T LIKE HER!" he shouted after his sister, who skipped down the stairs, still chuckling at her brother's denial.

She skipped out the door and down the street to Sally Brown's house, bursting with the news of her brother's embarrassment. She rapped on the Browns' front door and called, "Sally Brown! It's me, Lucy! Open up! I've got some important information for you about my little brother!"

No sooner had she said the words 'little brother' had the front door been flung open by an excited, crazy looking Sally with fire in her eyes, panting as if she'd just run a mile.

"What's all this about my Sweet Baboo?" she whined.

Lucy pushed past her, letting herself into the living room and plopping herself down on the sofa. Sally followed at her heels, desperate to know what Lucy knew about her Sweet Baboo.

"Sally, I hate to be the one to tell you this," Lucy started. Sally hung on her every word as if her life depended on it. "Actually…" she thought for a moment, and then laughed out loud. "No, I honestly couldn't care less about it! But my little brother Linus doesn't like you at all! He tells me all the time about how annoying he thinks you are, and how you aren't even pretty. He even said you were an enigma!"

Sally just stared blankly, not even believing what she was hearing. "B-but…he's my Sweet Baboo…" Her shoulders slumped and her eager grin drooped into a depressed frown.

Lucy shrugged. "Hey, life sucks sometimes, Sally. It really does. But I'm glad I could let you down easy before things got too serious." She smiled widely and stood up from the sofa. "Anyways, I gotta go. Schroeder's probably done with dinner by now and I wanted to catch him before he starts playing again. Bye!"

She skipped out the door again, leaving Sally in a broken heap on the floor in her own living room. She sat there for some time, not knowing exactly how long she had been there, until Charlie Brown walked in from the kitchen, holding a glass of water.

"Hey, Sally, are you okay?" Sally responded with a muffled groan. Charlie Brown set his glass on the coffee table and made to help his sister off the floor, but she wouldn't budge. "What happened, Sally?"

Sally turned her face to look at him. Tears were wet on her pink cheeks and her eyes were glistening. "What's an enigma, Big Brother?" she mumbled, rolling onto her side and pulling her knees close to her chest.

Charlie Brown's eyebrows furrowed and he looked at her in confusion. "An enig—a what? I don't know, Sally. Why?"

"Lucy told me that Linus called me an enigma!" Sally wailed. "And she said he doesn't even think I'm pretty! He told her so!"

"That doesn't sound like Linus," Charlie Brown muttered, attempting to comfort his sister, "Then again; Linus says a lot of strange things. An enigma doesn't sound like such a bad thing to be, anyways. What if he didn't mean it? But then again, Linus usually means what he says…anyways, I don't think Linus would say that you aren't pretty. I mean you're only my sister, but I think you're pretty! That is, for a sister."

Charlie Brown was trying his best to cheer Sally up, but he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Sally moaned again and stood up, dashing out of the room in tears. Charlie Brown just sat there.

"Nothing I ever say is right," he mumbled to himself.

The next day, Charlie Brown and Linus were walking to school. They mostly walked in silence, spare for a few remarks about the weather or schoolwork. They had almost reached the school when a little blonde girl pushed past them angrily, stomping off in a huff.

"Hey, Sally!" Linus called after her in an attempt to be friendly. She grumbled to herself and ignored him. "What's up with her?" he asked Charlie Brown, only half concerned. Charlie Brown sighed. "What's an enigma?" he asked his friend, avoiding the question.

Linus blinked. "Why, an enigma is an inscrutable or mysterious person, event or situation. Why do you ask, Charlie Brown?" The boys stopped at a familiar brick wall to rest before the first school bell rang. Linus held his blanket up to his cheek and stuck his wet thumb into his mouth.

"Oh, no reason," his friend replied hesitantly. "Why would you say such a rude thing about my sister, Linus? I thought you were her friend? I mean, I know she can be annoying at times but—"

Linus jumped at the accusation. "A rude thing? About Sally? I never would never say anything rude about her! Who told you I did!"

Charlie Brown remained silent. He realized that Lucy had probably made everything up that she'd told Sally in order to keep her away from Linus. Or even just to see her suffer. He didn't know. Either way, she had lied.

"Linus, Sally is under the impression that you don't like her very much at all. She even thinks you said she wasn't pretty."

Linus blinked again. "I never said she was, Charlie Brown. But I would never say she wasn't."

"I think you need to tell her that," Charlie Brown told his friend honestly. The first school bell rang in the distance. "We'd better get to class."

Sally wouldn't say a word to Linus all day, not at lunch, when he approached her at her table, not after school, on his way home, and not later that day, when he was over her house, playing cards with Charlie Brown.

"I don't know what to say, Charlie Brown," Linus said after Sally had ignored him once again that day. "I've tried everything."

Charlie Brown didn't say anything. He didn't know, either. His sister could be weird sometimes. The only thing he could think to say was, "She misses her Sweet Baboo, Linus."

Linus's eyes rolled up to the ceiling. "Good grief!" he cried. He suddenly knew what he had to do. He said a quick goodbye to Charlie Brown and rushed out the door, down the street to the old pumpkin patch. It was springtime, so the pumpkins weren't in season, but there were beautiful lilies growing in small groups around the patch. He snatched up about a dozen of the lilies and wrapped his security blanket around them. He darted back to Charlie Brown's house and pounded on the door. After a few seconds, Charlie Brown opened the door.

"Linus? What are you doing back here so fast? And what's with those flowers?"

"No—time—to—explain," Linus mumbled, out of breath. "Where's—Sally?"

"I—she's up in her room, but you know she doesn't want to talk—"

But Linus pushed past Charlie Brown before he could finish his sentence. He dashed down the hallway and to the door on the left—the one he knew was Sally's room by the flowers all over the door. He rapped his fist on the door as fast as he could.

"Go away!" came a call from inside.

"Sally, it's me, Linus!" he called back to her. "Open the door!"

"Go away!" she repeated.

"I need to talk to you!" he tried again.

But Sally wasn't opening the door. She was so angry with Linus that all she could do was sit in her room and cry. She never wanted to see him again.

Pretty soon, Linus gave up trying to get Sally out of her room, so he left her alone. It was finally silent outside her door.

A little while later, Sally heard her mother's voice calling her for supper. She slouched out of bed and opened the door to her bedroom. Something white and blue caught her eye, and she glanced down. There, on the floor in front of her door, was Linus's blanket, wrapped snugly around a bouquet of lilies. There was a note tucked safely inside one of the folds of the blanket.

Sally picked up the blanket and flowers, opening the note with her free hand. It read:

"Dear Sally. I'm sorry I called you an enigma. Sometimes you just mystify me. And of course I told my sister you're not pretty. Because you aren't pretty. You're beautiful. I hope you can forgive me. Love, Your Sweet Baboo."

As soon as she'd finished reading the note, a small drop of water landed onto the paper. Sally blinked back the tears in her eyes. She sighed to herself and held her Sweet Baboo's blanket close to her heart. She closed her eyes for a second, and then carried the blanket, flowers and note into the kitchen to find a vase.

Supper would have to wait, she told her family. There was something she had to return first.


End file.
